


yunhae | you promise?

by plincess_cho (ai_hao)



Series: Fic Requests [79]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, Super Junior
Genre: Author: Ai, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5723140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_hao/pseuds/plincess_cho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yunho and Donghae make a promise in 2001.</p>
            </blockquote>





	yunhae | you promise?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [8june1983](https://archiveofourown.org/users/8june1983/gifts).



> Dialogue Prompt: "We will be in stage together one day, no matter what."

Back then, they first met as trainees in the SM cafeteria back in 2001. Yunho was small and awkward with those crooked teeth and spiky hair that was all the rage. Donghae was even smaller and more awkward with the H.O.T. hair everyone had. Yunho remembers him clinging to Jungsoo like a shadow, never daring to leave the other's side.

It had been Jungsoo who had introduced them. Jungsoo knew all the trainees, both young and old. He'd greet everyone he passed by, especially the girls. He had been one of the first people to introduce himself to Yunho. "You must be new," Jungsoo had said.

"Yes," Yunho replied with a nervous bow. "I'm Jung Yunho, and I just started my training."

Jungsoo nods in return. "Park Jungsoo. And this is Donghae."

"Are you guys brothers?" Yunho asked.

"No," Jungsoo replied. "I'm just looking out for him."

Donghae had awkwardly bowed low as well, unsure how old Yunho was until Jungsoo asked.

"I was born in 1986," he replied.

"Oh! Same as Donghae," Jungsoo said. "He's October."

"I'm February," Yunho replied. He turned to Donghae. "We're the same age almost," he said with a smile.

Donghae smiled back.

*

The three of them lived in the boys' dorms with all of the other male trainees. Jungsoo and Donghae were put into a group called Smile with a few of the older boys, while Yunho joined a group called Four Seasons with some other trainees around his age.

"I'm the youngest," he told Donghae. "Heechul, Youngwoon, and Jaejoong are all older than I am."

"I'm the youngest in Smile too," Donghae replied. "Hey Yunho, do you think we'll ever perform together someday?"

Yunho thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'm sure we will. If we ever debut, that is."

"Yeah," Donghae had replied.

*

"We've decided to disband Four Seasons," the manger told Yunho and Jaejoong, "and move you into other groups."

"Oh!" Yunho exclaimed. "Are we joining Smile with Donghae and Jungsoo?"

The manager shook his head. "No, we're creating a different group. It'll be you two, plus three other trainees: Kim Junsu, Park Yoochun, and Shim Changmin."

"Oh," Yunho and Jaejoong had replied.

"That's exciting!" Jaejoong exclaimed.

"But what will happen to Youngwoon and Heechul?" Yunho asked, now understanding why only he and Jaejoong had been asked to stay after practice to speak with the manager.

The manager looked uncomfortable. "They... they'll be put into another group," he said after a pause.

Yunho didn't ask any more questions.

*

"So our group is supposed to rival yours," Donghae said. He tossed the soccer ball to Yunho.

"Rivals?" Yunho asked. He passed the soccer ball back.

"Yeah," Donghae said. "I guess we'll be competing against you guys and stuff, to build the hype and all."

"Oh," Yunho said. "Does that mean they've given you a debut date yet?" he asked.

Donghae caught the soccer ball and held it in his arms. "Not yet," he said. "But I'm sure they will soon." He hoped they would soon. It had been nearly two years since Donghae had joined SM and that's all he ever heard. At least he was in a group. Heechul and Youngwoon still hadn't been placed somewhere else after the dissolution of Four Seasons.

"I want to be an actor anyway," Heechul had told them. "That's why I joined the agency after all."

*

A week after DBSK made their official debut, the manager gathered the members of Smile together and gave them the bad news: there would be no Smile. Naturally, everyone was incredibly disappointed. They'd been told that they'd debut just like DBSK did, but now...

Two of the other trainees decided to quit right then and there. They'd put up with this for long enough, and they were done.

"You're not quitting, are you?" Donghae asked Jungsoo. The tears in his eyes were threating to spill down his cheeks.

"No," Jungsoo replied. "No, I don't intend to give up just yet."

*

Yunho and Donghae had celebrated DBSK's success with congratulatory bottles of soda from the convenience store down the street. Donghae truly was happy for Yunho. He'd been chosen as the leader, a very prestigious role. Their members even had stage names.

"I'm U-Know Yunho," Yunho had told him. "U-Know is English. I picked it out myself."

"Wow," Donghae replied. "I wonder if I'll get a stage name too."

"East Sea Donghae," Yunho replied.

They'd chugged the rest of their soda before running down to the neighborhood park for a game of soccer. It didn't take long for them to flop down onto the field in exhaustion. They'd both had long days of training after all.

"When you debut," Yunho said, trying to catch his breath, "we'll have to perform together. We can choreograph a dance performance."

"Yes," Donghae agreed. He noticed that Yunho had stopped using "if you debut" in exchange for "when you debut." Donghae appreciated Yunho's confidence, but the possibility of never debuting still weighed heavily on his mind.

"Promise?" Yunho asked, holding out his thumb.

"Promise," Donghae replied, pressing his thumb to Yunho's.

*

Donghae's official debut was much rockier than either he or Yunho had expected. He'd been initially overjoyed to have finally been put into a group, only to find out that it was a project group. A rotational project group.

"You won't get rotated out!" Yunho tried to encourage him. "You're so talented! And handsome. And besides, you've been training for so long. They have to keep you!"

"I don't know," Donghae replied. "Some of these guys can sing really well without having much training. Ryeowook only trained for three months before this. Three months!"

"Yeah," Yunho replied sympathetically.

"At least Jungsoo is the leader. Or, Leeteuk as we're supposed to call him now."

"So no stage name, huh?" Yunho asked. "If I was your leader, I'd give you one."

"Thanks," Donghae said.

*

Today, Yunho is sitting backstage waiting for his cue to go on. Donghae is next to him, adjusting his police jacket in the mirror. Yunho can't help but chuckle.

"What?" Donghae asks, spinning around.

"Nothing," Yunho replies. "It's just... remember when we made that promise on the soccer pitch? That we'd perform together onstage one day?"

Donghae smiles at the memory. "Yeah," he replies.

"I'd say we did pretty well," Yunho says. "I mean look at what we're doing right now!"

"You didn't anticipate this?" Donghae asks jokingly. "That we'd still be friends during enlistment and perform together?"

"Well I anticipated that we'd still be friends," Yunho replies, "but not that we'd be performing together in the military after performing together countless times onstage."

"True," Donghae replies. "We did well," he murmurs and turns back to fixing his jacket.

Yunho thinks back to meeting Donghae all those years ago. He'd been so awkward and unfamiliar then, but now, Yunho can't imagine not knowing him. He knows Donghae better than his own sisters, as hard as that is to believe.

But that's what happens after fifteen years, he reasons to himself.

So much had happened in those fifteen years. Success. Lawsuits. Hospital visits. Awards. Enlistment.

The director announces that they're about to go on, and everyone backstage hustles into position. Yunho stands at the front of the line next to Donghae and can't help but grin.

"You promise?"

"I promise."


End file.
